Beware if you use a pacemaker, insulin pump, etc.

[brkkab123]

Anyone on the forum that has a pacemaker, insulin pump or a implanted defribulator needs to immediately read this article at Extreme Tech's website. Here's the link to the article. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...cker-details-wireless-attack-on-insulin-pumps Apparently these device's can be hacked into, thus over dosing your medicine and possibly killing you. This is particularly scary to me, as I've used a insulin pump since 2000.

 

[Kougar]

It is extremely unfortunate, but this has been an issue for some time. Almost anything can be hacked into these days... need a good example? Pick up any Macbook Pro notebook, and it's possible for someone to very easily reprogram the battery to cease working, or even worse.

Modern "smart" batteries that can self-regulate are great and come with many advantages, but just like anything else that uses firmware, it can be reprogrammed. Apple apparently didn't give it any thought and used the default name/pass on the battery controller. http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2...earcher-discovered-the-apple-battery-hack.ars

 

[Ian]

Now that is creepy and unfortunate . As Kougar said, almost anything can be tampered with nowadays (and this will only increase) - I wonder what other known loopholes in everyday products there are!

 

[Kougar]

Just heard today on NPR about issues with user data privacy regarding the new "smart" power meters various electric utilities are experimenting with... missed most of the show but did catch the part where they mentioned most were fairly easy to access so marketers and companies could pull up all the information on your electricity usage, what ya were paying for it, and so on.

Which isn't a huge problem, except for the times... Any person could quickly find what routine a person had by matching the timestamps with the power draw, and know exactly when a homeowner or apartment renter usually left and got back home for the day.

 

[brkkab123]

Yeah, it's definitely creepy. I have a insulin pump and it's nice to know that someone can hack into it from half a mile away and overdose me on the medicine I need to live. Funny thing is when all these companies do put security features in to block this, we won't have acccess to it until the warranty run's out. Thus, in my case, I'm stuck with the one I have until 09/2015. Isn't that a joke. But, that's how medical insurance is in general.

 

[brkkab123]

Basically all the devices I use for my diabetes are all wireless computers. Every one of them I can hoook to my pc one way or another. My insulin pump has a usb 2.0 plug in that uploads every thing to a website for my doctor to read. My blood glucose meter has a usb 20 cable that plugs into it to upload it's reading's into a progre am on my pc and into the site where my insulin pump info goes. Huge convenience. But at the same time until better security is put into these device's. It could have deadly consequences for all that have to use them to survive.